Jonathan

Monday 19th March 2012 at 8:08 am

I can’t find a word for what those elephants are expressing as they gather round the dead body, nor a thought that encompasses the meaning of what they are doing with it. ‘Grieving’ and ‘mourning’ spring to mind, but it’s too easy to attribute human feelings to what we cannot understand.

Their demeanour gives presence to the dead animal in a way that embraces living an beyond, of which all, dead and living, are equally a part; and that is what makes this moving for me, as well as the humble respect and awe of the monks.

It is what I always wish humans would do around the bodies of our dead. I think when we do we can find our way to this elephantine place of contemplation; at least elephants aren’t encumbered by social mores telling them bodies are unpleasant!